Friday, 17 February 2012

Look good and have a good day

A few days ago I unexpectedly gained 3 hours – time to (machine) knit the final sample for a man’s fair- isle jumper. I have decided to knit a strip from bottom to armhole as this will check my ability to get the colour sequence correct and check the length of more than a 60 row sample.
Well, it was a disaster, I made endless mistakes in the colour and needle selection and then an hour later realised that I had never set the tension correctly. Well mistakes are there to learn from. But, the key factor in all this is that I decided to do this while wearing my ‘cleaning clothes’. I like a clean and tidy house but I do not enjoy the process of getting there and hence do not wear clothes I like for cleaning (see later may be a mistake!). I continued to wear these for the knitting.
So, a few days later, having planned meticulously how to succeed at the sample, I dressed up in clothes I adore and took myself off to my machine knitting studio and knitted the sample again. No mistakes and a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Here is a sample of the fair-isle jumper project, ignore the green – it is a tension sample!

This reinforces what I know already - the clothes you wear influence your mental state. Why wear clothes we don’t like, ever? I am now going to re-evaluate my cleaning clothes too; can I get to enjoy the process of cleaning? If the cleaning journey could be as enjoyable as the destination that would be truly great.

About Me

Textile designer-maker who is also a professional image consultant and qualified teacher. My work varies from teaching eg natural dyeing, to advising on personal colour and style to making couture pieces. I am passionate about what I do and encourage others to enjoy the process of producing and wearing garments and accessories that show individual creativity and skill and can be enjoyed for many years.